Essay: Baseball, Records and Race

Aug. 8, 2007 — -- In the fifth inning of the San Francisco Giants' 111th game this season, Barry Bonds swung his way into baseball history, hitting his 756th home run and beating Hank Aaron's long-standing record.

But, amid allegations of steroid use, Bonds' newly appointed title as baseball's all-time leading slugger is posing an interesting conundrum for many a baseball fan.

ABC News spoke with Dr. Todd Boyd, a noted commentator and the Price Chair for the study of Race and Pop Culture at USC, to discuss his thoughts on Bonds' recent accomplishment and its reception by the American baseball community. Here is what he had to say about the run for the record:

The reason that so many people are rooting against Barry Bonds is because of several reasons, one of which has to do with the issue of race.

If you look at baseball's history, throughout the sport, there has been a lot of controversy around race, going back to Jackie Robinson breaking into major league baseball some 60 years ago. Before that [the sport was] completely segregated.

Look at Hank Aaron, when he broke Babe Ruth's record in the '70s, he received death threats. There was a lot of hatred and animosity toward him. People didn't want to see Ruth displaced.

And now Barry Bonds in 2007 -- some 30 plus years later some things in society have changed, but other things have stayed the same. Bonds has a really complex personality, really abrasive -- a lot of people feel he is aloof, he's distant, he's rude, he's entitled. They don't like his personality, but I think a lot of people have … used that as an excuse to root against him breaking the record.

Steroid Scapegoat?

The sport of baseball has a cloud hanging over its head. Steroid use [has been an issue] for some years now and, in a lot of ways, it's as though they want Bonds to be the ultimate scapegoat.

They want him to take the blame for an issue that's been problematic in the sport for quite some time and, ultimately, I think that's unfair.

A lot of people do feel as though he's guilty of using steroids, but he's never been caught. There's a lot of speculation, a lot of accusations, best selling books have been written about this.

Bonds has not failed a drug test and until he does he should be accorded the benefit of the doubt or people should just exclude that from their consideration and look at the fact that he's excelled and done so at an extremely high level.

The animosity that he receives in a lot of cases is brought on by his own personality, but a lot of it is brought on by the fact that he is an African-American that doesn't fit the image that a lot of people would like to see at the top of that record.

When you compare him to Aaron, an older Southern African-American gentleman, I think a lot of people see Bonds as somewhat uppity, a word that people would use in the past to describe certain African-Americans who wouldn't kowtow to the demands of the mainstream.

So, race is a part of it, but it's not as though we are still in the '70s. We are in 2007. Race has evolved and transformed, but, at the end of the day, it still informs people's attitudes about Bonds in one way or another.

Bonds vs. McGuire

It's pretty difficult to answer whether or not, if [Bonds] were white, he would have been treated or looked at any differently. The point of the matter is when Mark McGuire was hitting home runs and ended up breaking Roger Maris' single season home run mark, nobody was suspicious of McGuire.

Nobody rooted against him not breaking the record because they thought he was using steroids. They simply welcomed his accomplishments and saw him as someone who was saving the game of baseball.

It's not as simple as throwing out Bonds' numbers because if you start throwing out Bonds' numbers, where do you stop? Who else do you look at and say this person gained these numbers because they were using performance-enhancing drugs?

Obviously, if Bonds is guilty … he is not the only one. Do you throw out the statistics of the entire era? Well, that would never happen. My point has always been … if you look at the sport of baseball you look at the challenges posed by history.

When Babe Ruth played baseball, he played in an all-white league. Black players were not allowed to play. One could make the argument that all of the numbers that Ruth accumulated during this time are also tainted because he didn't play against the best competition.

Even if Barry Bonds did use steroids, in my mind, it doesn't taint the record, not in the least bit, because, if you watch sports, you know that the strongest and the fastest individual is not always the best.

Nobody can tell me that Barry Bonds is not a good baseball player. At the end of the day, he should be praised for his accomplishment.

However you cut it, to hit 756 home runs is a really miraculous feat and it should be acknowledged and applauded.

The fact is here's a man who's weathered all sorts of criticism and hatred and animosity and, in spite of this, has accomplished a feat that, personally, I never thought would be broken.

I don't need heroes and role models anymore, so I'm not looking for Bonds to fill that role, but just as a man accomplishing an incredible feat in spite of the naysayers around him, there's something very inspirational about that -- steroids or no steroids.

Dr. Todd Boyd is the Price Chair for the study of Race and Pop Culture at the University of Southern California.